Iron Man

An American billionaire playboy, industrialist, and ingenuous engineer, Tony Stark suffers a severe chest injury during a kidnapping in which his captors attempt to force him to build a weapon of mass destruction. He instead creates a powered suit of armor to save his life and escape captivity. He later uses the suit and successive versions to protect the world as Iron Man. Through his corporation- Stark Industries -Tony created many military weapons, some of which, along with other technological devices of his making, have been integrated into his suit, helping him fight crime. Initially, Iron Man was a vehicle for Stan Lee to explore Cold War themes, particularly the role of American technology and business in the fight against communism. Subsequent re-imaginings of Iron Man have transitioned from Cold War themes to contemporary concerns, such as corporate crime and terrorism. Throughout most of the character's publication history, Iron Man has been a founding member of the superhero team the Avengers and has been featured in several incarnations of his own various comic book series. Iron Man has been adapted for several animated TV shows and films. The character is portrayed by Robert Downey, Jr. in the live action film Iron Man (2008), Which was a critical and box office success. Downey, who received much acclaim for his performance, reprised the role in two Iron Man sequels and The Avengers (2012), and will do so again in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Iron Man was ranked 12th on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes in 2011. Iron Man's origin story states that: "Anthony Edward Stark, the adopted son of wealthy industrialist and head of Stark Industries, Howard Stark, and Maria Stark, is born on Long Island. A boy genius, he enters MIT at the age of 15 to study electrical engineering and later receives Master's degrees in electrical engineering and physics. After his parents are killed in a plane accident, he inherits his father company. Tony Stark is injured by a booby trap and captured by the enemy led by Wong-Chu, who then orders him to design weapons. Stark's injuries are dire and shrapnel is moving towards his heart. His fellow prisoner, Ho Yinsen, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose work Stark had greatly admired during college, constructs a magnetic chest plate to keep the shrapnel from reaching Stark's heart, keeping him alive. In secret, Stark and Yinsen use the workshop to design and construct a suit of powered armor, which Stark uses to escape. But during the escape attempt, Yinsen sacrifices his life to save Stark's by distracting the enemy as Stark recharges. Stark takes revenge on his kidnappers and heads back to rejoin the American forces, on his way meeting a wounded American Marine fighter pilot, James "Rhodey" Rhodes. Back home, Stark discovers the shrapnel fragment lodged in his chest cannot be removed without killing him, and he is forced to wear the armor's cheat plate beneath his clothes to act as a regulator for his heart. He must recharge the cheat plate every day or else risk the shrapnel killing him. The cover for Iron Man is that he is Stark's bodyguard and corporate mascot. To that end, Iron Man fights threats to his company, such as communist opponents Black Widow, the Crimson Dynamo, and the Titanium Man, as well as independent villains like the Mandarin, who eventually becomes his greatest enemy. No one suspects Stark of being Iron Man as he cultivates an image as a rich playboy and industrialist. Two notable members of Stark's supporting cast at this point are his personal chauffeur Harold "Happy" Hogan and secretary Virginia "Pepper" Potts, to both of whom he eventually reveals his dual identity. Meanwhile, James Rhodes finds his own niche as Stark's personal pilot, revealing him to be a man of extraordinary skill and daring. The comic took an anti-Communist stance in its early years, which was softened as opposition rose to the Vietnam War. This change involved in a series of stories with Stark profoundly reconsidering his political opinions and the morality of manufacturing weapons for the military. Stark shows himself to be occasionally arrogant and willing to let the ends justify the means. This leads to personal conflicts with the people around him, both in his civilian and super hero identities. Stark uses his personal fortune not only to outfit his own armor, but also to develop weapons for S.H.E.I.L.D. and other technologies such as the Quinjets used by the Avengers, and the image inducers used by the X-Men. Eventually, Stark's heart condition is discovered by the public and treated with an artificial heart transplant." Iron Man's abilities include: genius-level intellect, a cyberpathic link with a prior version of his powered armored suit, superwoman strength and durability, supersonic flight at Mach 3, energy repulsors, missiles, and regenerative life support (sometimes powered by solar power).